


Crows and Mice

by SeliniErastis



Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-11 13:10:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19928596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeliniErastis/pseuds/SeliniErastis
Summary: Ash and Little Cato talk to their parental figures about new unknown feelings awakening inside them





	Crows and Mice

“Uh… dad?” asked Ash, awkwardly playing with her fingers.

“Yes, my dear?” replied Clarence, not taking his eyes off of the accounting papers he had in his table.

“I need advice with something” she said, shyly combing strands of hair with her fingers.

“All right but make it quick, please. I have numbers to check and business to close”

“What do you do when… you know… you are close to someone… and you feel your insides are fluttery and… your guts pulsate as if they were trying to escape your body and run away in a parade of fluids and blood?”

“If they really bother you that much, a laser into their skull should be enough. Here, have my handgun but use gloves” replied Clarence, handing the weapon to Ash but still more concentrated on his papers.

“Well, you see…” she said, lengthening her last word, “I thought of that but like…. I don’t wanna do it? Isn’t that weird? It’s pretty weird. I wish I could squish him but like… not to crush him. Do I even make sense? Hahaha _what is this?_ ” she roared with demonic voice.

“Oh! I see now, my dear” said Clarence, finally turning towards Ash. “You are reaching an age where your hormonal development messes with your mind, turning you into a mindless zombie of sappy foolery and depriving you of your best abilities. I suggest you forget about whoever puts you in such a useless trance. Just direct me to them and I’ll take care” he said, cocking his gun.

“ _If you hurt Mr. Yumsters, I swear for the most vicious gods of chaos, your soul will suffer the most unfathomable horrors any soul has ever confronted before!”_ replied Ash, hovering while embraced by a dark aura.

“Oh… I see, it’s the Little Cato. I expected this to happen to you but not with such an average specimen”.

“He’s really fluffy, ok?” said Ash, back to a less terrifying voice. “And like… he talks nice to me, he helps me, he taught me really nice things about guns”.

Clarence felt cornered. Ash was an asset too important for him (and the security of his business) to lose her to the weakening myths of love. But at the same time, hostility towards and from a conflicted teenager who could warp your mind into dimensions of eternal pain and doom was not a wise strategy. Allowing certain liberties to her would be more beneficial than banning them all together.

“Well, what do you expect me to say, darling? You are falling in… yuck, love”.

Ash stood still, paralyzed, with an awkward smile on her face. She then fell backwards, like a plank, still smiling.

“O. M. G”.

“You have all the symptoms of such sick- I mean, condition” said Clarence, in a defeated tone. “What are you gonna do now?”.

“I have no freaking idea”.

“You haven’t gone through this before?”.

Ash remained silent for a few seconds, scrutinizing in her memories. Everyone always had teased her about Jordan but that was entirely different, nothing like this, not even close to Little Cato.

“I don’t think I’ve had”.

* * *

Gary was gazing into the infinite extension of space through the window of the cockpit, caressing the Nymerian Cube in his hands, when he heard the door behind him opening.

“Hey there, Thunder Bandit!”

Gary put the cube back inside his jacket and greeted the young ventrexian.

“What’s up, my Spider-Cat?” he said to Little Cato, with a wide smile.

“Well, you see… I wanted to ask you something. You are so… adult and wise”.

“I love the complimenting, boy” he said with pride. “But let’s keep it at adult, barely”.

“Anyways, so… there’s this… person…” said Little Cato, dragging his sentences, avoiding eye contact with Gary.

“Ha! Say no more! Is the thingie-thing witch, isn’t it?”.

Little Cato was taken by surprise, but finally managed to exclaim:

“Deeeeeeehhh” with a smile.

Gary laughed and ruffled the ventrexian’s punk hair.

“So Cupid has finally hit an effective laser shot into your chest, uh?”.

“I don’t know… I-I guess. I feel new things, and dad was never able to talk to me about them”.

Both Gary and Little Cato felt a pinch on their hearts at the remembrance of Avocato, especially in a moment when he felt so necessary. But Gary had made a promise and for all the stars in the universe he would keep it.

“Hey, come here” said Gary, offering his legs for Little Cato to sit on. The ventrexian took the invitation and jumped onto the human.

“Oof! Wow, you are heavier than I expected” said Gary. “Well, tell me. What’s troubling you, kiddo?”.

“I never felt like I do with Ash. I feel like I can talk about a lot of things with her. To be honest sometimes it feels like she’s not listening but at least she lets me ramble on and on. She’s very nice with me, she’s been combing my hair for days”.

“Oh! So that’s why you’ve been looking even better than before” complimented Gary.

“I like to help her. She feels like… like me. She also talks with me a lot. It feels good when we help each other. Is this what… falling in love feels like? What do I do?” said Little Cato, his last sentence rather a cry for help.

“Chokity!” said Mooncake, entering into the conversation.

“What the hell, Mooncake? You don’t say that to a child! What-? What’s wrong with you?” said Gary, scolding Mooncake for his lousy mouth. “Anyways, you gotta stare into her soul. You have to enter in there, no matter the spiders, crows and other dark stuff you find there. If you can look into that and feel little mice rattling inside your guts, then you’ll know”.

“Is that how it went with Quinn?” asked Little Cato.

“Ohoho! You have no idea! When I met her, it was like fireworks exploding inside me, obliterating my internal organs to make space for all the love I feel for her, like a supernova swallowing an entire system” said Gary with a smirk. “I know I didn’t make the best first impression but… just before she left, I could see it in her eyes. It was like a smile warming my heart”.

“So… I should look into her eyes and look for something?”.

“No! Not look for. It just appears. Sometimes you see something, sometimes you feel something, sometimes you smell something!”.

“Chokity!”.

“Mooncake! What is that? Do I have to clean your mouth with soap?” replied Gary, later returning his attention to the boy in his lap. “Anyways, it’s different for everyone. Just follow your heart, go at your pace, it’s a process”.

“A process, uh?” asked Cato to himself, trying to remember if any of the things Gary had said had already happened in his moments with her.

* * *

Little Cato spent some time in his room after talking with Gary, pondering on what he told him and what he was really feeling. The word “process” was stuck in his head. At some point he realized how thirsty he was and decided to head for the kitchen. He walked looking at the ground, still thinking, when he bumped onto something when turning into a new hallway.

“ _Who dares to disrupt me?_ ” he heard someone groaning with mystic voice, but it quickly soothed. “Oh, Mr. Yumsters! H-hi there!” said Ash, now embarrassed.

“H-hey! Sorry for, uh… bumping into you. I was distracted” said Little Cato, fighting the awkwardness as he stood up.

“What were you thinking about?” asked Ash.

Little Cato tried to come up with a lie, something that didn’t give away his conflicted feelings, but then he looked at her smiling, waiting for an answer. He looked into her eye as Gary told him. He didn’t see, feel or smelled anything special, nothing different than before. But he felt calm, there was no awkwardness when looking at her, just like in the moments they spent together since the incident at Serpentis.

Ash went through something similar. It was when they were apart that her mind jumped to thoughts of doubt and uncertainty, but whenever they were close everything felt better. It wasn’t nothing like those moments near Jordan, in which her heart raced like crazy. When she was near Little Cato her heart felt at peace.

“I was just thinking…” started Little Cato. “When I spend time with you, I feel… good. And I wanted to thank you for it”.

“R-Really? Because… I… kinda… feel the same with you. What a weird connection, uh? You’ve really helped me feel better after… my sister and stuff”.

“You’ve also helped me with… everything that’s been happening lately. I don’t know how to call this. I’ve never been this close to someone aside from my dads- my dad and Gary!” he quickly corrected himself.

“Me neither” confessed Ash. “It’s like, with my little sister, we used to talk a lot and stuff but… you are not my brother. Or are you?” she asked with suspicion.

“If you allow me” said AVA from the speakers above, “I think the concept you are looking for is ‘friendship’. A strong sentiment of belonging and intimacy with another person that doesn’t necessarily include romantic attraction”.

“Little Cato!” exclaimed HUE, clumsily walking into the scene, “I think the feelings you are experiencing could be defined as-“.

“Too late, turtle” said AVA.

“I hate you, AVA!” replied HUE, frustrated and stomping on the ground.

“So… friends! That makes sense” said Little Cato. “I have never really had a friend before”.

“OMG! That explains a lot!” exclaimed Ash, excited. “Never had friends either. Everyone at school was afraid of me for making dolls with bones I found in the graveyard” she said, letting out a laugh after.

“Well… as long as you don’t use my bones, you can count on me” said Cato, offering his hand to Ash.

“Oww” said Ash, “but ok! I won’t touch _your_ bones” said Ash, shaking hands with her new friend.


End file.
